CloudAlpha Capital Management Limited Hong Kong Purchases Shares of 33,500 Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

CloudAlpha Capital Management Limited Hong Kong purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 33,500 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,878,000. Palo Alto Networks accounts for 0.9% of CloudAlpha Capital Management Limited Hong Kong’s portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest holding.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Worth Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the first quarter valued at about $26,000. First Pacific Financial boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 421.7% in the third quarter. First Pacific Financial now owns 120 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 97 shares during the period. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter worth about $28,000. Fortis Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Webster Bank N. A. lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 607.1% in the fourth quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 99 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on PANW. Piper Sandler cut Palo Alto Networks from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $350.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $330.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Redburn Atlantic boosted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $275.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, January 18th. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $305.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $315.46.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $284.33, for a total transaction of $17,059,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 198,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $56,327,194.65. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $284.33, for a total transaction of $17,059,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 198,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $56,327,194.65. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,050 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total value of $294,000.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,629,160. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 167,917 shares of company stock valued at $49,395,553 in the last three months. 3.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 0.8 %

NASDAQ PANW traded up $2.31 on Wednesday, reaching $277.33. 3,165,801 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,619,972. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $300.91 and its 200 day simple moving average is $290.27. The company has a market cap of $89.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.33, a P/E/G ratio of 3.71 and a beta of 1.19. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $176.30 and a 12 month high of $380.84.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 36.58% and a net margin of 30.24%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Palo Alto Networks Profile

Palo Alto Networks, Inc provides cybersecurity solutions worldwide. The company offers firewall appliances and software; and Panorama, a security management solution for the global control of network security platform as a virtual or a physical appliance. It also provides subscription services covering the areas of threat prevention, malware and persistent threat, URL filtering, laptop and mobile device protection, DNS security, Internet of Things security, SaaS security API, and SaaS security inline, as well as threat intelligence, and data loss prevention.